Zhuyin

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Zhuyin
Traditional Chinese: 注音符號
Simplified Chinese: 注音符号
Bopomofo: ㄓㄨˋ ㄧㄣ ㄈㄨˊ ㄏㄠˋ
Literal meaning: Symbols for Annotating Sounds
Zhuyin fuhao
Type Alphabet with some features of a syllabary
Spoken languages Mandarin Chinese
Time period 1913 to the present, now used as ruby characters
Parent systems Chinese characters
Zhuyin fuhao
ISO 15924 Bopo
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
Chinese romanization
Mandarin for Standard Mandarin
    Hanyu Pinyin (ISO standard)
    EFEO
    Gwoyeu Romatzyh
        Spelling conventions
    Latinxua Sin Wenz
    Mandarin Phonetic Symbols II
    Chinese Postal Map Romanization
    Tongyong Pinyin
    Wade-Giles
    Yale
    Legge romanization
    Simplified Wade
    Comparison chart
Cantonese for Standard Cantonese
    Guangdong Romanization
    Hong Kong Government
    Jyutping
    Meyer-Wempe
    Sidney Lau
    S. L. Wong (phonetic symbols)
    S. L. Wong (romanisation)
    Standard Cantonese Pinyin
    Standard Romanization
    Yale
    Barnett-Chao
Wu
    Long-short (romanization)
Min Nan
for Taiwanese, Amoy, and related
    Pe̍h-oē-jī
For Hainanese
    Hainanhua Pinyin Fang'an
For Teochew
    Peng'im
Min Dong for Fuzhou dialect
    Foochow Romanized
Hakka for Moiyan dialect
    Kejiahua Pinyin Fang'an
For Siyen dialect
    Phak-fa-sṳ
See also:
   General Chinese (Chao Yuenren)
   Cyrillization
   Xiao'erjing
   Zhuyin
   Romanisation in Singapore
   Romanisation in Taiwan
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History of the alphabet

Middle Bronze Age 19 c. BCE
Meroitic 3 c. BCE
Ogham 4 c. CE
Hangul 1443 CE
Canadian syllabics 1840 CE
Zhuyin 1913 CE
complete genealogy

Zhuyin fuhao, often abbreviated zhuyin (or jhuyin), is a phonetic system for transcribing Chinese, especially Mandarin, for people learning to read, write or speak Mandarin. This phonemic alphabet is currently in wide use in the Republic of China on Taiwan (see Uses). Consisting of 37 letters and 4 tone marks, it is a comprehensive system that can transcribe all the possible sounds in Mandarin

Although called an alphabet, zhuyin has features of a syllabary as well. Like an alphabet the consonant phonemes of syllable initals are represented by individual symbols. These constitute 21 of zhuyin's 37 letters. However, like a syllabary the phonemes of the syllable finals are not; rather, each possible final (excluding the medial glide) is represented by its own symbol. Thus, a final letter may represent a vowel, a vowel cluster, or the combination of a vowel and a consonant coda. For example, luan is represented as ㄌㄨㄢ (l-u-an), where the last letter ㄢ represents the entire final -an. These finals constitute the other 16 letters of zhuyin.

In everyday speech, it is also known as bopomo or bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ) after the first letters in the alphabet. In official documents, it is occasionally called the "Mandarin Phonetic Symbols I" (國語注音符號第一式), abbreviated as the "MPS I" (注音一式); however, this official name is almost never used in English. Either chu-yin or the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols (without the numeral suffix) is preferred in official translations. [1] [2] The Roman numeral serves to distinguish it from its lesser known counterpart, the MPS II, a romanization system invented around the same period but now defunct (c.f. Romanization of Chinese in Taiwan).

Contents

[edit] History

The Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation, led by Woo Tsin-hang from 1912 to 1913, created a system called guoyin zimu (國音字母 "National Pronunciation Letters") or zhuyin zimu (註音字母 or 注音字母 "Sound-annotating Letters") which is based on Zhang Binglin's shorthands. For differences with the Zhang system, see Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation. A draft was released on July 11, 1913 by the Republic of China National Ministry of Education, but it was not officially proclaimed until November 23, 1918. Zhuyin zimu was renamed zhuyin fuhao in April 1930. The use of zhuyin continued after 1949 on Taiwan. In mainland China, zhuyin was superseded by the pinyin system promulgated by the People's Republic of China, although the pronunciation of words in standard dictionaries are sometimes given in both pinyin and zhuyin.

Taiwan's Education Ministry has attempted for many years to phase out the use of zhuyin in favor of a system based on Latin characters (such as MPS II). However, this transition has been extremely slow due to the difficulty in teaching elementary school teachers a new Latin-based system.

[edit] Input method

Zhuyin can be used as an input method for Chinese characters. It is one of the few input methods that can be found on most modern personal computers without the user having to download or install any additional software. It is also one of the few input methods that can be used for inputting Chinese characters on certain cell phones.

Zhuyin keypads are typical on cell phones in Taiwan
Zhuyin keypads are typical on cell phones in Taiwan
A typical keyboard layout for zhuyin on computers
A typical keyboard layout for zhuyin on computers

[edit] On-screen translations

On-screen Chinese translation software can be used in several ways. For students learning Chinese, zhuyin is one way for them to learn how to pronounce Mandarin.

Compared to pinyin, zhuyin's more compact alphabet makes it easier for some students--without remembering special pronunciation rules. Since the zhuyin characters are similar, and sometimes identical to, Chinese characters, students learning zhuyin are also making incremental steps to learn reading and writing Chinese.

Typical on-screen software translation tool from Chinese to zhuyin (bopomofo)
Typical on-screen software translation tool from Chinese to zhuyin (bopomofo)

[edit] Origin of the letters

There is no official document explaining the details of the origins of the zhuyin letters, but many of them are apparent if one understands some basic Chinese characters. The zhuyin letters are mainly variant ancient Chinese characters or simplifications thereof, the modern readings of which contain the sound that each letter represents, and most if not all Bopomofo signs have one or more encoded CJK counterparts.

For example:

  • ㄝ (e) ← 也 (yě); cp. ancient Seal form
  • ㄞ (ai) ← 𠀅 (hài); ancient form of 亥
  • ㄟ (ei) ← 乁 (yí) [not 飞 (fēi)]
  • ㄉ (d) ← 刀 (dāo)
  • ㄌ (l) ← 力 (lì)
  • ㄘ (c) ← 𠀁 (cī, now pronounced qī); ancient form of 七; '7'
  • ㄅ (b) ← 勹 (bāo); ancient form of 包
  • ㄨ (u) ← 㐅 (wǔ); ancient form of 五
  • ㄓ (zh) ← 㞢 (zhī); ancient form of 之
  • ㄋ (n) ← 乃 (nǎi)
  • ㄒ (x) ← 丅 (xià); ancient form of 下
  • ㄙ (s) ← 厶 (sī); ancient form of 私
  • ㄜ (o) ← 𠀀 (hā); the sound made by breathing in; oh![3]

Some are virtually identical to Chinese characters in common use, for example:

  • 一 (i) ← 一 (yī)
  • ㄚ (a) ← 丫 (yā)
  • ㄠ (ao) ← 幺 (yāo)
  • ㄦ (er) ← 儿 (ér); modern simplified and ancient form

Many are nearly entirely identical to radicals with the same sounds, for example:

  • ㄆ (p) ← 攵 (pū)
  • ㄇ (m) ← 冖 (mì)
  • ㄈ (f) ← 匚 (fāng)
  • ㄎ (k) ← 丂 (kǎo)
  • ㄏ (h) ← 厂 (hǎn)
  • ㄗ (z) ← 卩 (zié, now pronounced jié)
  • ㄕ (sh) ← 尸 (shī)
  • ㄤ (ang) ← 尢 (wāng)
  • ㄩ (ü) ← 凵 (qū)
  • ㄡ (ou) ← 又 (yòu)
  • ㄖ (r) ← 日 (rì)
  • ㄔ (chi) ← 彳 (chì)

The zhuyin characters usually are represented in typographic fonts as if drawn with an ink brush (as in Regular Script). They are encoded in Unicode in the Bopomofo block, in the range U+3105..U+312D, including the 3 dialect (non-Mandarin) letters at the last four through last second, and the apical vowel ㄭ at the end.

[edit] Uses

These phonetic symbols sometimes appear as ruby characters printed next to the Chinese characters in young children's books, and in editions of classical texts (which frequently use characters that are uncommon in modern writing). In advertisements, these phonetic symbols are sometimes used to write certain particles (e.g., ㄉ instead of 的); other than this, one seldom sees these letters used in mass media adult publications except as a pronunciation guide (or index system) in dictionary entries. Bopomofo letters are also mapped to the ordinary Latin character keyboard (1 = bo, q = po, a = mo, and so forth) used in one method for inputting Chinese text when using a computer.

Unlike pinyin, the sole purpose for zhuyin in elementary education is to teach Standard Mandarin pronunciation to children. Grade one textbooks of all subjects (including Mandarin) are entirely in zhuyin. After that year, Chinese character texts are given in annotated form. Around grade four, presence of zhuyin annotation is greatly reduced, remaining only in the new character section. Schoolchildren learn the letters so that they can decode pronunciations given in a Chinese dictionary, and also so that they can find how to write words for which they know only the sounds.

Pinyin, on the other hand, is dual-purpose. Besides being a pronunciation notation, pinyin is used widely in publications in mainland China. Some books from mainland China are published purely in pinyin with not even a single Chinese character. Those books are targeted to minority tribal groups or Westerners who know spoken Mandarin but have not yet learned written Chinese characters.

Zhuyin is also used to write some of the aboriginal languages of Taiwan, such as Atayal [2], Seediq [3], Paiwan [4], or Tao [5]. For these it is a primary writing system, not an ancillary system as it is for Chinese.

For non-native speakers of Mandarin Chinese, zhuyin can be useful as a learning tool. Because it does not use romanization, confusion over "Latin alphabet" sounds and "Chinese" sounds is not an issue. As well zhuyin's formation of initials and finals to form syllables is more straightforward than pinyin's. However, for one not familiar with zhuyin, it can be more difficult to first understand the proper pronunciations. With its own keyboard layout, it is also less easily used to enter Chinese by people using a standard Latin-based keyboard.

It is also the basis for Chinese Braille.

[edit] Writing

The boxes represent the outermost extent of the zhuyin and hanzi.
graphic version of the tone marks


Zhuyin letters are written like Chinese characters, including the general order of strokes and positioning. They are always placed to the right of the Chinese characters, whether the characters are arranged vertically or horizontally. Technically, these are Ruby characters. Very rarely do they appear on top of Chinese characters when written horizontally as furigana would be written above kanji in a Japanese text. Because a syllable block contains usually two or three zhuyin letters (which themselves fit in a square format) stacked on top of each other, the blocks are rectangular.

The tone marks are similar to the later developed pinyin tone symbols, except that the natural tone (5th tone) is denoted with a black dot (natural dot), while pinyin does not carry any accent mark. The neutral dot is the only mark to be placed on top of the vertical zhuyin syllable block; the remaining three are in a vertical strip to the right of the character.

The tone marks are sometimes given in Regular Script style, matching the associated Chinese characters, and have the same basic shape as do those of the pinyin tone symbols. However, they vary in detail. The thickened end of zhuyin's second (rising) tone is always at the lower left, whereas the second tone mark in the pinyin system is a straight line of uniform width. The third tone mark displays the greatest variation.



Zhuyin's tone symbolization was used in the ROC-sponsored romanizations created by the Mandarin Promotion Council. The tone symbols in that system were identical with the zhuyin tone symbols, except that they were not in Regular Style calligraphy, but in a Western font face and so resemble the tone symbols used in pinyin.

Most zhuyin letters are written in the same stroke order as Chinese characters. However, because they are an alphabet, some are written faster[citation needed]. For example, both zh (ㄓ) and r (ㄖ) are written in three strokes. ( ; )

[edit] Zhuyin vs. tongyong pinyin & Hanyu pinyin

Zhuyin and pinyin are based on the same Mandarin pronunciations, hence there is a mostly 1-to-1 mapping between the two systems. In the table below, the 'zhuyin' and 'pinyin' columns show equivalency.

【】represents the form used in combination with other letters.

A comparison between pinyin and zhuyin for Standard Mandarin can also be done by comparing the transcription of various syllables at Comparison of Chinese Phonetic Systems.

Equivalence zhuyin-pinyin, by phonetic similarities.
Equivalence zhuyin-pinyin, by phonetic similarities.
Zhuyin vs. Pinyin
Initials
Zhuyin Tongyong Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin Wade-Giles Example(Zhuyin, Pinyin)
ㄅ b b p 八 (ㄅㄚ, bā)
ㄆ p p p' 杷 (ㄆㄚˊ, pá)
ㄇ m m m 馬 (ㄇㄚˇ, mǎ)
ㄈ f f f 法 (ㄈㄚˇ, fǎ)
ㄉ d d t 地 (ㄉㄧˋ, dì)
ㄊ t t t' 提 (ㄊㄧˊ, tí)
ㄋ n n n 你 (ㄋㄧˇ, nǐ)
ㄌ l l l 利 (ㄌㄧˋ, lì)
ㄍ g g k 告 (ㄍㄠˋ, gào)
ㄎ k k k' 考 (ㄎㄠˇ, kǎo)
ㄏ h h h 好 (ㄏㄠˇ, hǎo)
ㄐ j j ch 叫 (ㄐㄧㄠˋ, jiào)
ㄑ c q ch' 巧 (ㄑㄧㄠˇ, qiǎo)
ㄒ s x hs 小 (ㄒㄧㄠˇ, xiǎo)
ㄓ jhih 【jh】 zhi 【zh】 chih 【ch】 主 (ㄓㄨˇ, zhǔ)
ㄔ chih 【ch】 chi 【ch】 ch'ih 【ch'】 出 (ㄔㄨ, chū)
ㄕ shih 【sh】 shi 【sh】 shih 【sh】 束 (ㄕㄨˋ, shù)
ㄖ rih 【r】 ri 【r】 jih 【j】 入 (ㄖㄨˋ, rù)
ㄗ zih 【z】 zi 【z】 tzû 【ts】 在 (ㄗㄞˋ, zài)
ㄘ cih 【c】 ci 【c】 tz'û 【ts'】 才 (ㄘㄞˊ, cái)
ㄙ sih 【s】 si 【s】 ssû 【s】 塞 (ㄙㄞ, sāi)
Finals
Zhuyin Tongyong Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin Wade-Giles Example(Zhuyin, Hanyu)
ㄚ a a a 大 (ㄉㄚˋ, dà)
ㄛ o o o 多 (ㄉㄨㄛ, duō)
ㄜ e e e 得 (ㄉㄜˊ, dé)
ㄝ e ê eh 爹 (ㄉㄧㄝ, diē)
ㄞ ai ai ai 晒 (ㄕㄞˋ, shài)
ㄟ ei ei ei 誰 (ㄕㄟˊ, shéi)
ㄠ ao ao ao 少 (ㄕㄠˇ, shǎo)
ㄡ ou ou ou 收 (ㄕㄡ, shōu)
ㄢ an an an 山 (ㄕㄢ, shān)
ㄣ en en en 申 (ㄕㄣ, shēn)
ㄤ ang ang ang 上 (ㄕㄤˋ, shàng)
ㄥ eng eng eng 生 (ㄕㄥ, shēng)
ㄦ er er erh 而 (ㄦˊ, ér)
ㄧ yi 【i】 yi 【i】 yi 【i】 逆 (ㄋㄧˋ, nì)
yin 【in】 yin 【in】 yin 【in】 音 (ㄧㄣ, yīn)
ying 【ing】 ying 【ing】 ying 【ing】 英 (ㄧㄥ, yīng)
ㄨ wu 【u】 wu 【u】 wu 【u】 努 (ㄋㄨˇ, nǔ)
wun 【un】 wen 【un】 wen 【un】 文 (ㄨㄣˊ, wén)
wong 【ong】 weng 【ong】 ng 【ung】 翁 (ㄨㄥ, wēng)
ㄩ yu 【u, yu】 yu 【u, ü】 yü 【ü】 女 (ㄋㄩˇ, nǚ)
yun 【un, yun】 yun 【un】 yün 【ün】 韻 (ㄩㄣˋ, yūn)
yong yong 【iong】 yung 【iung】 永 (ㄩㄥˇ, yǒng)

[edit] Another comparison table

Vowels a, e, o, i
IPA ɑ ɔ ɤ aɪ eɪ ɑʊ ɤʊ an ən ɑŋ ɤŋ ɑɻ ʊŋ i iɛ iɤʊ iɛn iɪn jiŋ
Pinyin a o e ai ei ao ou an en ang eng er ong yi ye you yan yin ying
Tongyong Pinyin a o e ai ei ao ou an en ang eng er ong yi ye you yan yin ying
Wade-Giles a o o/ê ai ei ao ou an ên ang êng êrh ung i yeh yu yen yin ying
Zhuyin ㄚ ㄛ ㄜ ㄞ ㄟ ㄠ ㄡ ㄢ ㄣ ㄤ ㄥ ㄦ ㄨㄥ ㄧ ㄧㄝ ㄧㄡ ㄧㄢ ㄧㄣ ㄧㄥ
example 阿 哦 俄 艾 黑 凹 偶 安 恩 昂 冷 二 中 一 也 又 言 音 英
Vowels u, y
IPA u uɔ ueɪ uan uən uʊn uɤŋ uʊŋ y yɛ yɛn yn iʊŋ
Pinyin wu wo wei wan wen weng yu yue yuan yun yong
Tongyong Pinyin wu wo wei wan wun wong yu yue yuan yun yong
Wade-Giles wu wo wei wan wên wêng yü yüeh yüan yün yung
Zhuyin ㄨ ㄨㄛ ㄨㄟ ㄨㄢ ㄨㄣ ㄨㄥ ㄩ ㄩㄝ ㄩㄢ ㄩㄣ ㄩㄥ
example 五 我 位 完 文 翁 玉 月 元 云 用


Non-sibilant consonants
IPA p pʰ m fəŋ fʊŋ tiou tuei tʰ ny ly kəɻ kʰ xə
Pinyin b p m feng diu dui t nü lü ger k he
Tongyong Pinyin b p m fong diou duei t nyu lyu ger k he
Wade-Giles p p' m fêng tiu tui t' nü lü kêrh k' ho
Zhuyin ㄅ ㄆ ㄇ ㄈㄥ ㄉㄧㄡ ㄉㄨㄟ ㄊ ㄋㄩ ㄌㄩ ㄍㄜㄦ ㄎ ㄏㄜ
example 玻 婆 末 封 丟 兌 特 女 旅 歌儿 可 何
Sibilant consonants
IPA tɕiɛn tɕyʊŋ tɕʰɪn ɕyɛn ʈʂə ʈʂɚ ʈʂʰə ʈʂʰɚ ʂə ʂɚ ʐə ʐɚ tsə tsuɔ tsɨ tsʰə tsʰɨ sə sɨ
Pinyin jian jiong qin xuan zhe zhi che chi she shi re ri ze zuo zi ce ci se si
Tongyong Pinyin jian jyong cin syuan jhe jhih che chih she shih re rih ze zuo zih ce cih se sih
Wade-Giles chien chiung ch'in hsüan chê chih ch'ê ch'ih shê shih jê jih tsê tso tzŭ ts'ê tz'ŭ sê szŭ
Zhuyin ㄐㄧㄢ ㄐㄩㄥ ㄑㄧㄣ ㄒㄩㄢ ㄓㄜ ㄓ ㄔㄜ ㄔ ㄕㄜ ㄕ ㄖㄜ ㄖ ㄗㄜ ㄗㄨㄛ ㄗ ㄘㄜ ㄘ ㄙㄜ ㄙ
example 件 窘 秦 宣 哲 之 扯 赤 社 是 惹 日 仄 左 字 策 次 色 斯
Tones
IPA ma˥˥ ma˧˥ ma˨˩˦ ma˥˩ ma
Pinyin mā má mǎ mà ma
Tongyong Pinyin ma má mǎ mà må
Wade-Giles ma1 ma2 ma3 ma4 ma0
Zhuyin ㄇㄚ ㄇㄚˊ ㄇㄚˇ ㄇㄚˋ ㄇㄚ・
example (traditional/simplfied) 媽/妈 麻/麻 馬/马 罵/骂 媽媽/妈妈

[edit] Chinese dialects and languages other than Standard Mandarin

Three letters formerly used in non-standard dialects of Mandarin are now also used to write other Chinese lannguages as well. (Some zhuyin fonts do not contain these letters; see External links for PDF pictures.)

Char Name
万 V
兀 Ng
广 Gn

In addition, diacritics were used to create new letters for Min-nan and Hakka.

Extended zhuyin
Char Name   Char Name   Char Name   Char Name
ㆠ Bu   ㆦ Oo   ㆬ Im   ㆲ Ong
ㆡ Zi   ㆧ Onn   ㆭ Ngg   ㆳ Innn
ㆢ Ji   ㆨ Ir   ㆮ Ainn   ㆴ Final P
ㆣ Gu   ㆩ Ann   ㆯ Aunn   ㆵ Final T
ㆤ Ee   ㆪ Inn   ㆰ Am   ㆶ Final K
ㆥ Enn   ㆫ Unn   ㆱ Om   ㆷ Final H

[edit] See also

Look up Zhuyin fuhao, bopomofo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Republic of China government, Government Information Office. Taiwan Yearbook 2006: The People & Languages. “Also available at [1]”
  2. ^ Taiwan Headlines. Taiwan Headlines:. The Republic of China government.
  3. ^ Unihan data for U+ 20000.

[edit] External links